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Krush hold their Krush×Survivor show this Saturday at Korakuen Hall in cooperation with FEG. Krush looks to be the place where FEG is developing new talent for K-1, perfect for their new 63kg weight class.

WPKC World Muay Thai Ligthweight champion Haruaki Otsuki will face J-Network Lightweight champion Akihiro Kuroda in the main event. Otsuki's had a few fights up in K-1, going 2-0 with wins over David Douge and Ryuji Kajiwara back in 2008. He's also the winner of the All Japan Lightweight the Strongest Tournament Champion '03. His opponent will be the reigning J-Network Lightweight champion Akihiro Kuroda.

RISE 55kg champion Nobuchika Terado will meet former New Japan Kickboxing Federation Flyweight champ KENJI. Another top match will see the #1 ranked J-Network Lightweight Junpei Aotsu face off against the 60kg Krush GP2009 runner-up Yuta Kubo.

Other notable fighters in action include Keiji Ozaki, who finished third in the K-1 World MAX 2007 Japan tournament going up against YOSHI and 2006 All-Japan Karate Lightweight Champion Takuya Shirahama meets Syunsuke Ohishi, the #1 ranked J-Network Super Lightweight. The K-1 Koshien 2009 runner-up Shota Shimada faces off against GMC/Pancrase mixed-martial-artist Daisuke Endo and the K-1 KOSHIEN 2008 third place finisher Ryuya Kusakabe will be in action against 60gk All-Japan Karate champion Shota Takiya.

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Andre Mannaart (right) in action

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Here's one for the true die-hard old school kickboxing fans: Dutch organization Fight 058 has announced that their next card will be headlined by the return to in-ring competition of Andre Mannaart as he faces fellow legend Jan Lomulder.  The event will take place June 26, and is Fight 058's second ever show.

Modern fans may know the 49-year old Mannaart as one of the top trainers in the European kickboxing scene.  Working out of Mejiro Gym in Amsterdam, Mannaart has trained a number of major champions including Remy Bonjasky and Andy Souwer.  As a fighter, Mannaart was involved in some of the earliest K-1 shows, including an appearance at the 1994 K-1 Grand Prix where he was KO'd by defending champion Branko Cikatic.  His last high profile fight was a victory in K-1 over Mitsuya Nagai in 1999, but even at that time he was essentially retired.  As modern combat sports developed, Mannaart also tried his hand at MMA, going 0-3-1 including loses to Enson Inoue and Kiyoshi Tamura.  An undeniable legend in the modern European kickboxing scene, Mannaart is truly a name every kickboxing fan should know.

His opponent is the 42 year old Jan Lomulder, another early name in the modern kickboxing citcuit.  As a part of Thom Harinck's famed Chakuriki Gym, Lomulder also had an early K-1 appearance, losing to Adam Watt back in 1993.  Perhaps his most notable fight came in MMA as Lomulder took part in the 1994 Vale Tudo Japan tournament, defeating Kenji Kawaguchi via vicious soccer kick before dropping out due to a broken hand. 

Interestingly, this is actually a rematch between these two.  Mannaart and Lomulder first met back in 1995 with Lomulder winning a five round decision.  That fight is available in it's entirety on YouTube - click here for part 1.

While some may look at this as an irrelevant fight between two men who should be out of the ring, I see it as a great opportunity to see two true pioneers of modern kickboxing competing against each other one last time.  I know there are many fans who will eagerly look forward to this, and I can't wait to enjoy seeing these men fight.

Gokhan "The Rebel" Saki via www.goldenglory.com

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This coming Saturday, February 27, KickboxTV presents an Thai Boxe event headlined by K-1 star Gokhan Saki as he faces Dutch Muay Thai stylist Utley Meriana.  The event comes from Schiedam in The Netherlands, and will be streaming live at www.kickboxtv.nl.

This will be Saki's second relatively low profile fight in a row, as his last outing was a win over Dennis Stolzenbach at a smaller show in The Netherlands.  I'd say these kind of fights are perfect for Saki right now.  After a huge breakout year in 2008, Saki hit some roadblocks in 2009, first in an upset loss to Kyotaro, followed by an injury against Pavel Zhuravlev that put him on the sidelines for a number of months.  His return fight was a loss to Peter Aerts before getting back in the win column against Stolzenbach.  From the Aerts fight it seemed clear Saki needed a bit more time to get over the injury and shake off the ring rust - fights where he can get back to his top form away from the high profile of a major K-1 event are the perfect place to do so.

His opponent is Utley "The Easy Killer" Meriana, a Dutch fighter out of the Silent Dragon camp.  Like Saki, Meriana typically fights around 95 kg.  Largely unknown outside of the Netherlands, Meriana is a decently well-regarded fighter, though he is facing a big step up in competition here.  For more on Meriana, check out one of his fights on YouTube here.

Krush EX ~ New Generation Fight ~ (February 19th, 2010)

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FEG is sending seven Team Dragon fighters to participate at the Krush EX event on February 7th. The concept of this competition will be the development of young new stars.

Leading the way for Team Dragon is the 19 year-old Koya Urabe (4-1), who was the 2008 K-1 Koshien tournament runner-up. He will meet the 10th J-NETWORK Lightweight champion Kohei "KING" Fujiwara in the main event.

The 2007 All-Japan Karate Champion Hirotaka Urabe, who has a 2-1 record in K-1 will face the 2008 All-Japan Student Kick-featherweight champion Koyama. 17 year-old Team Dragon members Ryosuke Sasaki and Nami Isawa also appear on the card.

The Krush organization has become a feeder for K-1 MAX, holding numerous tournaments for qualification and helping to build up fighters.

Krush EX ~ New Generation Fight ~
Friday February 19th, 2010
Shinjuku FACE

3R x 3Min (Extended 1R)
63kg: Koya Urabe (Team Dragon) vs. Kohei "KING" Fujiwara  (SFK)
60kg: Hirotaka Urabe (Team Dragon) vs. Yasuaki Koyama

3R x3 Min
60kg: Daizo Sasaki (Team Dragon) vs. Suketaka Matsuno (NPO JEFA)
60kg: Ryosuke Sasaki (Team Dragon) vs. KAZUMA (Dojo Kohiruimaki)
55kg: Takumi (Team Dragon) vs. Yuki Tamura
55kg: Norifumi Kitani (Team Dragon) vs. Katsuki Sakaki (Kan Dojo)
55kg: Nami Isawa (Team Dragon) vs. Jim Chai Sen (Senchaimuetaijimu)

Octagon u Sarajevu Press Conference

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Bosnia and Herzegovina is hosting an event called "Octagon u Sarajevo" in Sarajevo at the Olympic Indoor Sports Center on April 24th, 2010. The show will include world class MMA and K-1 kickboxers along with local Bosnian talent. The event is being put together by former UFC fighter Denis Stojnic, who trains with Golden Glory.

Four-time winner of the K-1 Grand Prix Semmy Schilt (MMA 26-14-1), Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem (MMA 32-11), two time K-1 World GP Las Vegas winner Stefan Leko (MMA 0-3) and the great Norwegian Grappler John Olav Einemo (6-1 MMA) are scheduled to appear.

Stojnić said during the press conference, "I am glad that I managed to bring all of these names to your city in which I feel is best. Thank to Golden Glory team who responded to this invitation. Thanks to everyone who supported this project".


Open.: Semmy Schilt (26-14-1) vs. Jurgen Dolch (1-6)
93 kg.: Stefan Leko (0-3) Vs. Mumaer Tufekcic (0-0)
Open. Denis Stojnic (5-3) Vs. Michel McDonald (1-1)
Open.: Ibro Miladin (0-0) Vs. Miodrag Petkovic (29-10-1)
93 kg.: Khalid Arraba (7-3) Vs. BARICA Matias (4-2)
Open.: Alistair Overeem (32-11) Vs. Sasa Milanovic (0-0)
Open. John Olav Einemo (6-1) Vs. Kresimir Bogdanovic (3-1-1)
Open.: Valentijn Overeem (26-25) Vs. Senad Hadzic (0-0)
Open. Michel Andrade (0-0) Vs. Dado Stojnic (0-0)
Open. Paul Cahoon (11-12) Vs. Damir Mihailovic (6-5)

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On March 7th 2010, Time For Action and Team Superpro are joining forces to organise Time For Action presents: Team SuperPro 10 Year Anniversary from Nijmegen, Netherlands. World #7 rank and K-1 MAX 2002 Champion, Albert Kraus (60-15-3) will meet fellow Dutchman and European Muay Thai champion William Diender (59-22-2) who fights for Team Aerts. Andy Souwer is coming off his first win of the year at Beast of the East 2010 over Faldir Chahbar in the shows featured bout.

Kraus' SuperPro teammate, Alviar Lima (55-15-3) will return to the ring after finishing runner-up at the 2010 Beast of the East tournament to face 2008 K-1 MAX Netherlands 2008 champion Warren "Chaka Zulu" Stevelmans (49-11-4). WPKL European Muay Thai champion and K-1 World MAX 2009 Europe Tournament tournament finalist, Marco Pique (50-24-1) is also on the card as he faces Arian Vatnikai, who is coming off a win over Mohammed Mehda also at this years Beast of the East show. The talented up and comer Rico Verhoeven (22-5-0) is also scheduled to participate.

Time For Action presents: Team SuperPro 10 Year Anniversary
Place: Nijmegen, Netherlands
Date: March 7th, 2010

Albert Kraus (#7) vs William Diender
Alviar Lima vs Warren Stevelmans
Henry van Opstal vs Anthony Kane
Arian Vatnikai vs Marco Pique
Atty Gol vs Andre Brul
Rico Verhoeven vs Alex Novovic
ludgens Sarybekian vs Mohamed Medhar

Yesterday we reported that Konstantin Gluhov would face Paul Slownski on the Warsaw GP show.  For fans unfamiliar with Gluhov, here is a nice highlight package from K-1 Riga 2008.

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This show is fast-approaching and has been without a solid card for quite a while. Thankfully, there is a card up now, thanks to WCN for the translation.

ColliZion K-1 MAX Europe GP ~ FINAL
16. Winner Salmon/Vörös Roland vs. Winner Barbu/Radnic

K-1 Superfight
15. Freddy Kemayo (52-15-1) (France) vs Andreas Hoftun (Norway)
14. Catalin Morosanu (20-4-2) (Romania) vs Deutsch N. Pu'u (2-0-0) (United States)
13. Revanho Blokland (Netherlands) vs Patrick Berger (Austria)

WAKO Italian-Hungarian European League
12. 81kg: Marco Santi (Italy) vs Busai Gergely (Hungry)

MMA Super Fight
11. Aubéli Ottó (Hungry) vs TBA

K-1 Max Superfight
10. Ionut Atodiresei (Romania) vs TBA

ColliZion K-1 MAX Europe GP
09. Philippe Salmon (25-4-0) (France) vs Vörös Roland (65-16-0) (Hungry)
08. Mihai Barbu (16-5-0) (Romania) vs Frane Radnic (73-12-0) (Croatia)

Professional Boxing Match
07. Kótai Mihály (Hungry) - Thomas Hengstberger (Austria)

WPKC Professional European Champion Title Match
06. Nagy Tibor (Hungry) vs TBA

WAKO Italian-Hungarian European League
05. 63,5kg: Alessandro Orella (Italy) vs Görbics Gábor (Hungry)
04. 71kg: Damiano Poletti (I)taly vs Józsa Ádám (Hungry)

ColliZion K-1 MAX Europe GP
03. Reserve: Balogh Norbert (Hungry) vs Vulics József (Hungry)

WAKO Italian-Hungarian European League
02. 91kg: Domenico Avella (Italy) vs Zentai Máté (Hungry)
01. 67kg: Tiziano Mascoli (Italy) vs Oli Márk (Hungry)

Opening fight
00. Kulacsik Mirko (Hungry) vs Paulovits Máté (Hungry)